O'Rourke Frustrated by 'Really, Really Harsh Calls'
Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke expressed frustration over several refereeing decisions during their All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) quarter-final defeat to Kerry, describing some calls against his team as "really, really harsh."
The Red Hands were narrowly defeated 1-24 to 0-25 by the reigning All-Ireland champions in a closely contested match held in Dublin. Despite an impressive second-half performance, Tyrone fell just short of securing a place in the semi-finals.
O'Rourke highlighted that key decisions at critical moments appeared to favor Kerry, which impacted the outcome of the game.
"We felt that some of the calls that went against us were really, really harsh," O'Rourke told NI.
"Maybe it'll look different on the video and we'll look at it but those marginal calls were really hard on us and at one stage to Kerry boys even stopped playing because it seemed so blatant to us.
So, it was really hard to take in such a tight game that that happened and I'm not here to blame referees or officials or anything else but at the same time to us we seemed to get a very, very hard deal out there. Maybe I'm wrong."
O'Rourke Praises His Side's Performance in Tight Second Half
Coming into the contest, Tyrone were considered heavy underdogs against Kerry, who were aiming to defend their title. However, O'Rourke was not surprised by his players' strong showing, especially in the second half.
"It's probably not that much compensation at this stage as we always expect ourselves to come up and put in a big performance," he said.
"I thought in fairness in the first half we were a bit off. They won too many kick outs and when you give Kerry possessions they'll usually end up in an attack and, more often than not, they'll score.
So that was the thing that we had to be better on the second half and just in general I just felt all over the field we had to just show more urgency. We did that and it was just disappointing we didn't get anything out of it."
Tyrone were without the services of both Canavan brothers, Ruairi and Darragh, due to injury. O'Rourke acknowledged that the absence of either player could have influenced the outcome in such a closely fought match.
"We weren't picking from a full panel and obviously someone like Darragh or Ruairi there coming in there to freshen up the forward line would be a massive bonus.
They weren't fit to play. Long term injuries and major injuries so that was a hand we were dealt."
- Kerry break Tyrone hearts in epic quarter-final
- Mayo turn on style to beat Cork and reach semi-finals
